Compounds of Formula I: ##STR1## are structurally novel antiepileptic compounds that are highly effective anticonvulsants in animal tests (Maryanoff, B. E, Nortey, S. O., Gardocki, J. F., Shank, R. P. and Dodgson, S. P. J. Med. Chem. 30, 880-887, 1987; Maryanoff, B. E., Costanzo, M. J., Shank, R. P., Schupsky, J. J., Ortegon, M. E., and Vaught J. L. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 3, 2653-2656, 1993). These compounds are covered by U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,006. One of these compounds 2,3:4,5-bis-O-(1-methylethylidene)-.beta.-D-fructopyranose sulfamate known as topiramate has been demonstrated in clinical trials of human epilepsy to be effective as adjunctive therapy or as monotherapy in treating simple and complex partial seizures and secondarily generalized seizures (E. FAUGHT, B. J. WILDER, R. E. RAMSEY, R. A. REIFE, L D. KRAMER, G. W. PLEDGER, R. M. KARIM et. al., Epilepsia 36 (S4) 33, 1995; S. K. SACHDEO, R. C. SACHDEO, R. A. REIFE, P. LIM and G. PLEDGER, Epilepsia 36 (S4) 33, 1995), and is currently marketed for the treatment of simple and complex partial seizure epilepsy with or without secondary generalized seizures in Great Britain, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. Applications for regulatory approval are presently pending in numerous countries throughout the world including but not limited to the United States.
Compounds of Formula I were initially found to possess anticonvulsant activity in the traditional maximal electroshock seizure (MES) test in mice (SHANK, R. P., GARDOCKI, J. F., VAUGHT, J. L., DAVIS, C. B., SCHUPSKY, J. J., RAFFA, R. B., DODGSON, S. J., NORTEY, S. O., and MARYANOFF, B. E., Epilepsia 35 450-460, 1994). Subsequent studies revealed that Compounds of Formula I were also highly effective in the MES test in rats. More recently topiramate was found to effectively block seizures in several rodent models of epilepsy (J. NAKAMURA, S. TAMURA, T. KANDA, A. ISHII, K. ISHIHARA, T. SERIKAWA, J. YAMADA, and M. SASA, Eur. J. Pharmacol. 254 83-89, 1994), and in an animal model of kindled epilepsy (A. WAUQUIER and S. ZHOU, Epilepsy Res. 24 73-77, 1996).
Recent preclinical studies on topiramate have revealed previously unrecognized pharmacological properties which suggest that topiramate is effective in treating some other disorders. One of these is neuropathic pain.